Scandinavia's answer to Nigella Lawson has been credited with causing an acute shortage of butter in Sweden.

Leila Lindholm, a Swedish celebrity chef keen on cleavage-enhancing blouses and televised dinner parties, is said to have helped boost the popularity of butter over margarines or low calorie spreads.

For three weeks Swedish supermarkets have struggled to meet demand for butter – with stocks running especially low in the past week, according to the Swedish Dairy Association.

Aftonbladet, a Swedish tabloid, claimed this week that Lindholm and fellow TV cookery stars were encouraging the normally health- conscious Swedes to shun less fatty "artificial" alternatives to butter.

The newspaper even ran a butter recipe for readers wanting to churn their own. All they would need, the paper told them, was a mixing bowl, whipping cream and salt.

"Swedes think butter is delicious," said the tabloid.

"Out of the kitchen go the light, additive-filled products. In comes the pure raw material, preferably as fatty as possible. It's a development which is cheered on by TV chefs and nutritionists."

Aftonbladet singled out Lindholm as a particularly influential butter evangelist. "I only bake with real butter," the newspaper quoted her as saying. "Butter is the best flavour enhancer and tastes fantastic."

The dairy association said that while butter had enjoyed a recent spike in sales, there had been a reduction in the amount of milk and butter produced annually in recent years.

"Over the last 20 years we have seen a 15% drop in milk production in Sweden," said Lennart Holmström, an analyst at the association.

"There are too few young people going into dairy farming these days, and there has been too little investment in existing farms."

The shortage has become so chronic that on Thursday, Arla Foods – a major Swedish butter manufacturer – said it was going to start buying cream from Denmark in order to meet demand.

"We promise our customers that Swedish butter is made from 100% Swedish cream but we are going to use the foreign cream in other dairy products, freeing up the Swedish cream we do have to make more butter," said Claes Henriksson of Arla.

He said that celebrity chefs had played "a part" in the butter trend. "We have also seen an increasing demand in Sweden in recent years for 'natural' and 'clean' products with no artificial additives – products like butter," he said.

"There has also been a debate over different kind of fats and high fat, low calorie diets have contributed to this too."

As Sweden is a member of the EU, there is nothing to stop the country's supermarkets importing foreign butter, said Holmström.

"But Swedish consumers are very loyal about buying Swedish produce, so that wouldn't necessarily be a solution," he said.

Lindholm told the Guardian she thought it was an exaggeration to suggest she was behind the butter shortage.

"My shows are very popular in Sweden and it is true that when I cook something, often the ingredients then sell out," she said.

"But I think it goes a bit far to hold me responsible. It's true, however, that I always bake with butter and wouldn't dream of using anything else."